Real-Estate Sites Start Targeting Renters

During the housing boom, more Web sites popped up offering new ways for prospective buyers to scout for dream properties and deals. But with the homeownership rate falling, now more attention is going into catering to renters. Real-estate Web site Trulia.com on Wednesday launches its own platform for renters that builds off of its infrastructure for home sales. In December, Zillow.com added rental listings to its popular real-estate site.

Web traffic measured by Experian’s Hitwise shows that of the top 20 real estate Web sites, seven are now focused on rentals, including Rent.com, Apartments.com and ForRent.com, up from just three one year ago. Trulia says that an internal survey reveals that around 30% of consumers consider renting and buying at the same time.

Just as with home searches, Trulia’s rental site allows browsers to limit their searches to particular price ranges, neighborhoods, and amenity offerings, such as air conditioning or washer/dryers. Landlords can upload their properties for free, and Trulia says it plans to offer millions of rentals of all types, from professionally managed apartment companies to mom-and-pop landlords or one-off leases from condo unit owners.

The launch comes amid signs that the battered rental apartment market may be stabilizing. After a nearly 18-month free fall, rents picked up modestly in the first quarter, according to Reis Inc., a New York research firm. Vacancies are still at 30-year highs, however, which suggests that landlords will continue to cut rents or offer concessions in some markets to keep units full.

If job growth gathers speed later this year, that means rents will begin to pick up. And because there’s been little new construction during the credit crunch, that means many markets may have little new supply, raising the prospect of bigger rent increases in 2011 or 2012.